A project typically requires a large amount of time and involves many individuals from different disciplines and professions. Project oriented tasks typically have more uncertainty and fluidity than other types of work, such as repetitive tasks performed with functionally oriented work. As a result, specialized methodology and tools for managing projects have been needed.
Large companies typically utilize programmable computers and associated databases to manage available personnel and track expended labor hours. Various internal and external funding accounts may exist to which personnel may charge their labor time. Because large companies are unable to track and predict the work habits of individual employees, they track macro indicators such as total cost and total time. Planning on a macro level is never accurate and never identifies the reasons for the inaccuracies so as to permit the planning model to be refined.
Common examples of macro models include tracking work performed in completing a capital project so that it can be depreciated for tax purposes. Accordingly, a specific Capital Project Appropriation Request (CPAR) is created to which personnel may charge expended time in performing work thereunder.
One conventional system is known as the Automated Issue Management System (AIMS) and is used in conjunction with another conventional system called Time entry System (TES) which are used for capitalizing internal and external labor. The systems are contained in conventional programmable computers for more accurately managing the large number of personnel involved and the substantial number of individual tasks associated with various capital projects. A project manager typically initiates a project by opening a specific work request in the AIMS system. The system automatically provides a respective AIMS number, which typically has a correlation to a single CPAR number. The manager assigns personnel to complete tasks based on an AIMS number. The TES system allows personnel to record through a personal computer expended time per AIMS number as the work is completed. The TES system allows the manager to examine cumulative time expended for specific AIMS numbers, with the manager manually correlating the AIMS number to a specific CPAR.
Although the AIMS and TES systems facilitate managing projects in a large company, project planning and managing is nevertheless relatively complex in most circumstances. To further facilitate project management in large companies, commercially available software has been developed. One available management tool or product is conventionally known as Microsoft Project from Microsoft Corp., and another product is ABT Project Workbench from the Applied Business Technology Corporation. These software tools allow companies to define project plans in accordance with tasks and time schedules for available personnel resources, and are typically operated in stand-alone fashion or in conjunction with other commercially available software products for facilitating the overall management of projects. However, these commercially available products are designed for specific applications and are therefore limited in capability, as well as having no built in capability for managing project finding such as the CPAR example introduced above.
An example of such previously disclosed systems include U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,391, which describes a staff scheduling data processing system and method which schedules staff and management personnel at locations remote from a central location by applying central location policy to unique remote location data to insure the optimum staff schedule for each remote site.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,767,848 describes a development support system for supporting new product development activities, which includes a target storage for storing target values of schedules of product development, and the cost and the performance of the product; an estimating unit for estimating schedules of product development and the cost and the performance of the product on the basis of the models stored in the model storage. The '848 patent includes a unit for monitoring electronic mail necessary for carrying out tasks essential to the development of the product, extracting information relating to the progress of tasks essential to carrying out the development of the product, and providing the members of the development project team with information about the progress of the tasks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,140 describes a dynamic project management system which includes a server network and a master database.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,125 describes a scheduling system, wherein events and/or groups of events are checked at a scheduling time to insure that certain fixed conditions associated with the event(s) are satisfied. U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,527 describes a computing apparatus for an improved information system that manages.
All of these proposed systems, however, fall to adequately include factors necessary for adequate task planning and are incapable of efficiently and accurately planning and managing project tasks. All of these systems are based on the premise that planning is dependent upon macro attributes, such as time and cost. In tying planning to these macro attributes that are used regardless of the employee base and regardless of the planning model, these systems are inherently limited and fail to account for the way people actually work.